First a nod to the retirees. *Nods*
Tonight we have the Little Cup Final, Glasgow v Toulon. The French side are half-way down their league table while Glaes are fourth in the URC, and have home advantage … but I think it will be a close-fought affair all the same. The Home of the Big Yin by 4.
Then tomorrow there’s the Big Cup Gladitorialism of Leinster v La Rochelle. Ronan O’Gara will be rubbing his hands at the prospect, especially after his club side beat the Blue Meanies last weekend in the URC semi-final. But Leinster have made 12 changes to the B-team they put out last week – mostly to concentrate on this Cup, one assumes. BUT Sexton is still injured, which could be a big factor; one of they Byrne brothers is in instead.
It’s a tough one to call too, but I think home advantage will tell again. The Home of Leopold Bloom by 5.
Onna telly this weekend
Friday 19th May
| Glasgow v Toulon | 20:00 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 20th May
| Leinster v La Rochelle | 16:45 | ITV1 / STV / BT Sport 2 |
Ovally Balls 
Penalty try to NZ. Bench has injected some pace and power in the last 20 minutes and Georgia have been clinging on. Or not, given that the score is 50-26. Still, 8th place finish is above both Wales and Italy. Georgia for the 6 Nations! #Justice4Georgia!
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The final is live here:
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Didn’t realise the 3rd place playoff was on as well! Boks beat England 22-15, with apparently a massive defensive effort in the second half after leading 22-8 late in the first.
Ireland 7-0 up against France in the marquee match after 5 minutes.
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The subtitles are hilarious.
Keep your breakfast (ref to front row)
Kick your husband (commentary)
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Apparently the U20s specialise in lineart too.
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The irony. Pouring Mrs Deebee her favourite Irish whiskey and I missed the French riposte to even up the scores.
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Where are you getting that from, Thauma? And welcome back! 🍾
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Youtube has auto-generated subtitles.
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AI not all it’s cracked up to be.
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Ciao ragazzi!
I’m sitting here, on the shore of Lake Bracciano, watching the final on a ropey WiFi connection, and I thought of you lot.
Hope everyone’s well.
Ireland looking a little lost in the face of French power at the moment. Still in it though, after that last let off.
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Ciao, Piperboy! Jealous.
Deebee – as Refit said, it’s on the YT link he kindly provided.
Was back in the homeland for a week. There were nine of us, and it was a bit chaotic!
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Sadly, this match is OVER.
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France just too good for Ireland tonight. A bit of a battering. 36-14 with 10 to go.
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Worth it for the subtitles. They’ve got prawns on the pitch now, apparently.
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Evening Piper! What exactly made you think of us? The stunning lake? The crappy wifi? Large amounts of booze? Ireland getting battered like a cod in London? We deserve to know.
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You can taste our pundits on the new sushi!!!
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Some of that frustration in the Irish ranks turned into some of that distraction in the eye of the shrinks. It’s magic. I daren’t take a drink in case it comes out the nose.
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French Flair is alive and well – that was some performance from the young French side.
Jauneau will have Dupont looking over his shoulder – the whole backline is terrific in fact
The number 8 is another one to watch, as well as the latest Tuillagi
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Brilliant interview from the French pair :-D
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The spear tackle at the end was entertaining!
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Pour ma part, je souhaite la bienvenue à nos nouveaux seigneurs français
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Ticht – that reminds me of the entire description of Julien Sorel’s demise in Le rouge et le noir, after around 900 pages….
From memory: Tout se passa simplement, convenablement, et de sa part sans aucune affectation.
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As it should be Thaum :-)
I do actually think that – we should be spared the bombast of the likes of Trump and Bojo the Clown and everything they represent
If we all lived a bit more simply we’d all be in a better place and be more willing to share what resources we have with the people who need it, across the world.
*makes Peace symbol with fingers*
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Ticht – aye, but it was an execution in that case.
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Thaum ah well, nobody’s perfect, as the film says.
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Impressive by the Bleuets, as we call them here. The Blue-ets , a pun ( cornflowers?) highly resonant on Bastille day, as we used to wear them like you wear poppies in remembrance of the fallen ones .
Power and pace will always trump rugby by rote. As Ticht said, flair’s not dead yet. So happy to see diminutive players like Jauneau play heads up rugby and take on much bigger guys than him.
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Got a feeling SA are going to win this morning.
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First score to the ABs. It’s been all them for the first 5 mins, SA doing well to keep them around half-way.
Will Jordan makes a break down the far wing and gives it to Smith, who scores under the posts.
7-0
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Jordan reminds me of Ben from Accounts – fairly unassuming and never seems to be moving that fast, but just cuts through defences.
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SA pinged for offside. Mo’unga kicks the pen.
10-0 after 9 mins
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Good grief, unbelievable handling. Watching a fair bit of NRL at the moment, one of the big points of reference is time of ball in play, with a clock running .Over 3 mins and the commentators start to mention it. Longer it is live, more likely that some of the big boys will be blowing, and gaps will appear in otherwise impenetrable well organised defences. Every stoppage , review or delay in play thru injury gives the big boys a chance to reoxygenate, and recover. looks like union going the same way. Equivalent of a NFL no huddle offense.
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The try came off a forward pass, assisted by a winger who didn’t release the ball when getting up after being tackled. Silly game.
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Fuck. Thats mindblowing rugby.
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Oh that was magic! ABs on fire.
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Jordan finds another gap and gets behind the defence. He passes wide to Taylor who makes ground, then passes to Frizzell (spits), who rides a tackle and scores in the corner.
17-0 16mins
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SA have touched the ball like 5 times so far. Mo’unga puts the ball out, from the restart, SA go for a quick lineout, but Weise fumbles the ball. Luckily(?) he’s high-tackled after the whistle, so they get a pen instead.
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From the lineout, SA make it 2/3 the way across the pitch, before Frizzell wins a pen at the breakdown.
Not going SA’s way so far.
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That could have gone either way.
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Checking world cup pool draws, England. Aren’t going past either of these two.
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Ooh, close for SA. They have a knock-on advantage in the middle of the park, on the ABs 5m line. Faf kicks to the wing and Kolbe goes up with BB. He strips the ball from Barrett and maybe gets it down? Many, many replays by the TMO show that he actually knocks it on.
De Allende then knocks on from the restart.
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Oof, SA just pushed the ABs scrum backwards – love to see it.
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Points on the board for SA. They get a pen in the middle of the park, after Taylor gets caught on a turnover.
17-3 35mins
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Smith then milks a penalty, pinging the ball into a retreating SA player, and Mo’unga makes the difference 17 again.
20-3 37mins
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The commentator keeps calling Willemse “Mapimpi”.
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There’s a high tackle on the real Mapimpi. SA put it in the corner. ABs stop the maul. SA play it in-field. Eben almost gets over the line, but it’s pulled back for a neck-roll by de Jager.
Half time.
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Kiwis got off to a perfect start and our guys looked like they were still waking up. Just not clinical enough when we had a bit of ball, lousy under the high ball, kick offs too far to contest and pretty much everything New Zealand has done has worked.
Any positives for the Boks? Parity on the scoreboard in the second quarter, Faf playing out of his skin – bouncing a tight head prop is quite something! Not much else.
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Bongi and de Jager subbed 3 mins into the 2nd half. Marx and Snyman on.
Cane subbed at half time too.
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streams down.
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PSdT on for Mostert.
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Tim, this one’s working for me https://www.vipbox.lc/new-zealand-vs-south-africa-1-live
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